The 1st Plenary Session of the Foreign Investors’ Council chaired by the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and co-chaired by President of the EBRD Odile Renaud-Basso took place in Tashkent on 16 November 2022.

In their welcoming speech the co-chairs underlined major priorities and areas of support for unleashing Uzbekistan’s potential and ensuring sustainable economic growth.

In response to the proposals from investors, the decision was made on the creation of the Committee for the Protection of Foreign Investors’ Rights aimed at introducing the best foreign practices in Uzbekistan. It will act as a single window for foreign investors to ensure transparency and serve to the mutual benefits of partners.

Among priority areas for the Council to focus will be the banking sector reform, reducing the state presence in the economy through privatization and public-private partnership, mining sector, green infrastructure and the ongoing work on de-carbonization, being carried out with the help of EBRD.

The members of the Council have expressed their appreciation of the decisions made during the plenary session and readiness to contribute to the reform process by bringing expertise and financing. They expressed a unified view on the need to accelerate privatization of state owned enterprises (SOEs) and banking sector. The need to further institutional reforms separating regulatory functions and entrusting private sector the operational function was mentioned among the best practices to implement and achieve the set government economic goals and growth.

Meeting participants welcomed the suggestion to further review the reform initiatives in the working groups with the aim to provide systematic solutions and proposals for the implementation of reforms ahead of the second Plenary Session scheduled for the second half of 2023.